Machine operator charged for setting wife’s house on fire

Oct 24, 2017 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

A husband who went on the run after abusing his wife and setting her house on fire appeared yesterday before Principal Magistrate, Judy Latchman, charged with the offence.

REMANDED: Kerwin Jervis

Kerwin Jervis, 45, who gave his address at 182 Da Silva, Street, Newtown, Georgetown, pleaded not guilty to the charge which alleged that on October 17, at Georgetown, he unlawfully and maliciously set fire to the dwelling house of June McAlmont, while she was therein.
An unrepresented Jervis, a father of three, was remanded to prison until November 13.
Bail was opposed for Jervis by Police Prosecutor Shawn Gonsalves.
Prosecutor Gonsalves highlighted the serious nature of the offence and the penalty it carries.
The prosecutor also informed the court that there is a likelihood Jervis will be charged for a similar offence in relation to another house that was destroyed during the blaze.
According to Prosecutor Gonsalves, on the day in question, McAlmont came home from work and met her husband who later locked himself inside a bedroom. The Prosecutor said that a few minutes after, Jervis came out of the bedroom holding a quantity of clothes, which he threw onto the floor and soaked with a corrosive substance. Jervis set the clothes on fire and choked his wife and told her that they were both going to burn to death, Prosecutor Gonsalves disclosed.
The prosecutor said that the woman jumped through some louvre windows to escape from the burning building. Her husband fled the scene, but was later apprehended by police and confessed to the crime in a caution statement.
Before the indictment was read to Jervis, he requested to be taken to the hospital since he was feeling unwell. The man claimed that his wife threatened to poison him and also told him that he was going to “die slowly.”
Kaieteur News had previously reported that the man tried to kill his 38-year-old partner by setting the house, where he also lived, on fire. The fire not only destroyed their home, but damaged a neighbour’s house located adjacent to the property.
McAlmont, who was present in court yesterday, was seen with a wound over her right eye.

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